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RAPID CITY – No news is good news for top-seeded players and expected team favorites on the first day of the boys state high school tennis tournament.

The vast majority of singles contenders and top-seeded doubles tandems came through unscathed Thursday at Sioux Park and Parkview Courts.

Lincoln, Mitchell, O’Gorman, Washington and Rapid City Stevens dodged a few raindrops and a pair of lightning delays to advance in all nine flights through the first two rounds of play.

“Pretty much the top teams are all going to be undefeated at this point so this first day, it’s good to get these (matches) out of the way,” said Lincoln coach Tom Krueger.

“Tomorrow we’ll start to separate people out,” he said.

In Flight 1, third-round matchups include defending Flight 1 champion Tommy Entwistle of O’Gorman taking on Connor Shoop of Pierre, with Jacob Cersosimo of Mitchell playing Washington’s Nathaniel Ackert in another match.

Chuck Tang of Rapid City Stevens plays a familiar opponent in St. Thomas More’s Daniel Duffy, with Bill Trevillyan of Brandon Valley and second-seed Kaleb Dobbs of Sioux Falls in the other third-round match.

In today’s Flight 1 quarterfinals in doubles, Stevens’ Tang and Trae Olson clash with Nathaniel Ackert and Elliot Hartwig of Washington, with Barr and Josh Jackson of Roosevelt facing Entwistle and Jake Moran of O’Gorman.

“Doubles for us are always key,” Krueger said. “We’re seeded No. 1 in a couple of flights, so we’re relying on our doubles to come through strong in the end, so that’s important too.”

O’Gorman coach Don Barnes said it’s always good to get through the first day unscathed, because things don’t get any easier.

“There’s always those opening-day nerves. Everybody’s got them. We’re not immune. You’ve got to fight through it and go with the flow,” he said.

“Tomorrow’s the next day and things will start to happen,” he said. “That’s the moving day and things will pop.”